We visited the "Sammy B." in 2020, coincidentally on the anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor. More after the jump.
From Task & Purpose, June 25:
Explorers found the USS Samuel B. Roberts, which sunk 78 years ago holding off an overwhelming Japanese battle group
The "destroyer escort that fought like a battleship” was found four miles below the surface.
Nearly eight decades after it went down in a last stand against overwhelming odds, the USS Samuel B. Roberts has been located. A deep sea expedition found and identified the wreckage on June 22, making it the first time the ship had been spotted since it was sunk during the Battle of Samar in 1944 after charging in to fight a Japanese fleet and near point blank range.
Underwater explorer and retired Navy Reserve Commander Victor Vescovo located and surveyed the wreck off the coast of the Philippines. He found and identified it as the USS Samuel B. Roberts, a John C. Butler-class destroyer escort that was sunk in October 1944. At a depth of 6,895 meters below the surface it is the single deepest shipwreck ever found. The previous record holder was the USS Johnston, another World War II destroyer sunk in the same battle as the Samuel B. Roberts. It was identified in 2021 by Vescovo.
The ship was built and launched during World War II, getting commissioned on April 28, 1944. Quickly nicknamed the “Sammy B” by sailors it only had six months of service, joining the U.S. Pacific Fleet in August. It was assigned to Task Unit 77.4.3, nicknamed “Taffy 3.” The ship was named for Navy Cross recipient Samuel Booker Roberts Jr. Two other ships were later named after him, with the most recent being a guided missile frigate that was decommissioned in 2015.
Part of the dive on the Sammy B. It appears her bow hit the seafloor with some force, causing some buckling. Her stern also separated about 5 meters on impact, but the whole wreck was together. This small ship took on the finest of the Japanese Navy, fighting them to the end. pic.twitter.com/fvi6uB0xUQ
— Victor Vescovo (@VictorVescovo) June 24, 2022....MUCH MORE
The story has a photo of the little guy in 1945 and the thing that stands out is: It is just so small.
As retold in 2021:
....And even if they stick to the smaller ships, under the right captain the smaller boats can raise havoc.
In last December's "Meanwhile, in the Mediterranean: Egyptian Frigate Goes All Medieval On Turkish Frigate" our introduction was:
There's something so primitive and basic about ramming that it gets the intended rammee's attention when the position is assumed..
Granted, this wasn't as dramatic (or suicidal) as the little American destroyer escort, Samuel B. Roberts charging at the Japanese armada (eleven destroyers, eight cruisers, and four battleships) at the Battle of Samar but again, it is just so basic that the Turks couldn't help but notice when the Egyptians turned toward them.Ever since I first heard of the charge of the tiny (1,350 tons) boat at the 23 Japanese ships I've wondered what the Japanese were thinking as the Roberts came at them.
The Samuel B. Roberts blew the stern off one Japanese heavy cruiser (it later sank) and set another heavy cruiser ablaze before one of the battleships was able to react and shell the Roberts forcing the order to abandon ship.
As a final note, the gunners on the Roberts were firing so fast they went through all the different caliber ammunition on board and resorted to firing illumination and smoke rounds in the hopes of starting fires on the Japanese ships.
Bringing to mind this scene from the Second Battle of Bull Run (Second Manassas) in the American Civil War:
"The Diehards" by Don Troiani.Rebels of the 2nd Louisiana Brigade, "out of ammunition, throwing rocks."
